We Writers Are Still Never Too Old To Learn And I'm Proof by Margo Hoornstra

We’ve all heard the adage “Do as I say, not as I do.” That one sure does ring true when it comes to me and promo. With a communications and public relations background, I think I have some good ideas. I know how to do the visuals, create Media Kits and design Sell Sheets for my books. Plus, it’s not that I haven’t tried and tried and tried to promote myself and my books in other ways too. It’s just that I haven’t yet hit on anything that really seems to connect with readers.

Okay, well there was this one time. I had hired a Virtual Assistant to spread my name and the title of my recently released novel Only If You Dare, on as many venues as she could. My publisher, The Wild Rose Press, had the book available for free at the time and, after getting the title a spot on a site called freebooksy, in one day, I had over 12,000 downloads. Though I received no real sales revenue from the venture, I did garner about ten very nice reviews to use on my website and the Praise Page of subsequent books.

I’ve also done blog tour after blog tour after blog tour after…well you get the idea. While doing a blog tour takes a lot of time and effort, it is enjoyable to interact with various bloggers, answer their questions, create the essays they ask for. I also provide free PDFs for review, to those who will accept them. Unfortunately, the actual payoff simply hasn’t been all that great as far as copies of books sold. Although I have received several very nice reviews to, again, use on my website and the Praise Page of subsequent books. (Are you seeing a pattern here?) But there was another definite down side to the blog tours as well. Some bloggers either didn’t put up or didn’t promote my appearance, so the prep work and time put in is all for naught.

One event that seemed to cause a spike in the revenue on my royalty statement came about rather serendipitously. I had recently re-connected with my local Romance Writers of America Chapter, Mid-Michigan. (one I actually founded a few years before, but that’s a post for another day.) At the time MMRWA periodically put out a newsletter in which they highlighted various member authors. This one particular month, I was the highlightee with a front page article containing my picture, a short bio and information about my latest release. As it happened, this particular month the chapter had purchased a booth at a rather large women’s expo event, not only to showcase member authors but to recruit new members for the group as well. Part of the Potential Membership Packet they distributed to the many attendees contained the newsletter featuring me and my books, among various SWAG items, bookmarks, pens, business cards and the like.

What I need to do now, is try to combine what has worked for me in the past with what others, who know much more than me on the topic of promotion, suggest that will/should work for me in the future.

Such as, but not limited to:

 Join a group – not any group, be selective. Find blogs and FaceBook groups that cater to the genre you write. Post within their guidelines, of course, to get your name out there.

Keep your website updated and fresh. This also goes for your author pages on Amazon, Goodreads, FaceBook, BookBub. Let’s face it, these social media sites outside of your individual website, are where most readers are going to find you.

Develop a newsletter. We’ve all heard this is essential for authors looking for readers. But content is key. “WoooooWhooooo! You out there, come spend your money on my book.” Might not be the best selling point. Think of giving rather than getting in this instance. Give the reader something to take away from their visit with you. Preferably in the form of information, ideas, entertainment, reading material, gift cards.

What I do in the spirit of a free takeaway that doesn’t cost me anything is to post original short stories on my website readers can download.

An ongoing promotion effort I use is to hire the services of Author Promo Pal. A pretty savvy promoter who keeps me and my books out there by tweeting me/us on Twitter, posting on FaceBook groups.

Another promo tool I’m using at the present time, wasn’t my idea at all but came from my editor at TWRP, Ally Robertson aka our own Alicia Dean when it was time to promote my newest release On The Surface.

She suggested I take the two self-published novels I currently have for sale on Amazon and include the following inserts.

Near the front of the book is a tease:

Coming next from Margo Hoornstra

On the Surface, Book 1 of the series Brothers In Blue

To serve and protect was never more personal

With the Buy Link

Toward the back of the book is a blurb and excerpt.

Florence Price of The Novel Difference implemented this for me.

Although the jury is still out as to whether this particular promotional tool will work. Go check it out using the Look Inside tab at For Money Or Love and Saturday In Serendipity then come back and comment to tell me what you think.

My days to blog here are the 11^th and 23^rd. For more about me and the short stories and books I write, please visit my WEBSITE.

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GOODREADS

We Writers Are Never, Ever Too Old To Learn by Margo Hoornstra

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been writing stories. That’s what all of us who are authors say, right? When I was in grade school, one of my teachers told my mother I had a flair for writing. Some similar comment from someone is what most of us reveal from our pasts, too. In my case, writing was, you could say the family business. It’s how my father paid the bills when I was growing up. Authors, albeit not of the worldly famous variety, but those who made their living writing books, would come to my house for dinner.

When I finished college, I used my writing skills in a career as a public relations specialist, magazine editor and script writer. All of which doesn’t make me an expert by any stretch. I’m constantly seeking, looking, trying, and sampling everything I can get my hands on about writing. Even at my ripe old age, I never tire of learning.

Something I did this Summer at RWA2017, The Annual Romance Writers of America® Conference in Orlando.

One session titled KEEPING YOUR READERS UP ALL NIGHT, was presented by multi-published New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Joan Johnston.

Besides being a very entertaining speaker, she provided some very usable information on how to hook readers in each and every chapter.

 Ask a question that must be answered
Create conflict 
Anticipate a confrontation
Start with riveting action or compelling behavior
Predict what will happen when a secret is revealed
Set up a competition or bargain
Suggest disaster, unless…
Set a deadline or ultimatum

To craft that very first paragraph, and she suggests you.

Present a physical and/or physiological response
Utilize all five senses
Set the time, place and conditions
Use precise word choice
Have metaphors appropriate to the story
Keep sentences simple
Show don’t tell
Employ fitting dialogue tags

In my special 99 cent release, FOR MONEY OR LOVE, I can only hope I achieved and implemented some of what she suggested.

My days to blog here are the 11^th and 23^rd. For more about me and my stories, please:

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RWA2017: Lesson One – Give Them What They Crave by Margo Hoornstra

In my August 11^th appearance on this page, I talked about attending the 37^th Annual Conference of Romance Writers of America. Despite some pro and con controversy about the value of membership in this organization, in my opinion, the group does strive to support romance authors in their craft and their career, from those just emerging and pre-published to multi-published masters. Many commenters on August 11^th asked me to share what I learned in some of the many workshops.

So let’s begin….

In all the sessions on the craft of writing, the message was the same. Emotion is the takeaway readers seek, especially from a romance novel. They want to be invested, to feel or empathize with the characters. Maybe relive a treasured memory through the story.

The first workshop I attended was Seducing Your Readers in Chapter 1, presented by Michael Hauge.

The tease and bio go something like this…

Salvaging a novel with a weak opening is next to impossible. Never try to “grab” your reader at the beginning of your novel. You must seduce them, draw them into your world, create empathy for your heroine, set the tone for your story, introduce immediate conflict, lay the groundwork for your heroine’s arc, and foreshadow what lies ahead. This presentation will reveal how to compel your readers to keep turning the page.

Michael Hauge is a story consultant, author, and lecturer who has consulted on projects for every major Hollywood studio, including films starring Will Smith, Julia Roberts, Jennifer Lopez, Kirsten Dunst, Robert Downey Jr., and Morgan Freeman. He is the author of Selling Your Story in 60 Seconds, and has presented his lectures and workshops to more than 50,000 writers and filmmakers around the world.

My initial decision to sit in on this one was mainly prompted an author friend who exclaimed how attending a presentation of his a few years ago was so eye opening for her, it changed her writing life forever. You could say I bought into her enthusiasm, the emotion she projected.

Suffice it to say, I wasn’t disappointed.

One element of writing he shared, I’d heard before. In framing characters, a writer needs to begin with the wound. An event or ongoing painful situation she believes she’s over, that still determines her behavior.

The hero, of course, needs to come to understand this, and her.

According to Mr. Hauge, the primary reason a manuscript fails to resonate with editors, and therefore receives a rejection slip, is because the hero and heroine have no real reason to be together, except for the fact the writer wants them to be.

Kind of like – I love you because we are in this book together. Not very compelling, or interesting.

My main takeaway from the session is the core of the following paragraph.

The reason the hero is the heroine’s destiny is because he’s the only guy who sees her beneath her identity and connects with her at her essence. He sees her true self and connects to her on that level.

Did your heart beat a little faster? A contented sigh emerge? Me too!

The need for a deep and unique connection between two souls is a dynamic that has stayed with me, one that I’ll think about, and try to inject into my writing in every interaction between my hero and heroine.

Emotion. Deep, heartfelt emotion.

Hopefully, mission accomplished in my September 29, 2017 release On the Surface.

It’s available for pre-order here.

My days to blog at The Roses of Prose are the 11^th and 23^rd. For more about me and my stories, please visit me at my website

A Conference Worth Your Time by Margo Hoornstra

I know there are pros and cons about the merits of belonging to the writers’ organization, Romance Writers of America. Some feel RWA is a proprietary specialty group of haves and have nots. Whether you’re a member or not, or feel the organization meets your needs as an author, attending the conference they put on each year is something to experience. I just got back from their latest.

In my opinion, RWA2017, the 37^th Annual Conference of Romance Writers of America, held July 26-29 in Orlando, Florida was a huge success. I attended as President of my local RWA group, Mid-Michigan Romance Writers of America.

Since its creation in the 1980s, if nothing else, this group does strive to support romance writers in their craft and their career. The Annual Conference is one way of doing that. A definite something for everyone affair, at RWA2017, there were events of interest for those members who are emerging as authors and pre-published to those seasoned, multi-published masters.

The conference included four plus days of networking, agent/editor pitching, spotlights on publishing houses, and workshops—lots and lots of workshops—focused on career, craft, research and wellness. You name it; rather them, in the publishing world and they were represented in some form or other, either through personal, one on one appointments, workshop presentations, or receptions.

Awards and awardees were there in abundance.

The RWA Service Awards honored six members, at both the national and local level, for their volunteer efforts on behalf of RWA. Two Chapters, Central Pennsylvania Romance Writers (with less than 50 members) and San Antonio Romance Authors (with more than 50 members) received Chapter Excellence Awards for exemplary programming, community outreach, membership recruitment and retention, chapter promotion, industry engagement, and professional development.

Awards also recognized the efforts of the authors themselves with their, pre-published manuscripts and current published works, the Golden Heart and RITA respectively.

Although there was no way to attend it all, I did take in a few workshops, and a publishing house spotlight. A real high note for me was when I met, for the first time face to face, a fellow Wild Rose Press author friend I’ve known on-line for close to ten years. It was great to finally connect with her up close and, well, personal. We at The Roses of Prose talk about having a member reunion. Let me tell you, it will be well worth the effort, if we can ever pull it off.

But, back to the Conference. There was so very much to choose from and, as I’ve said, something for everyone. For traditionally published authors, indie authors and everything in between, along a wide, wide, wide spectrum of genres within romance.

I plan to attend RWA2018 in Denver. It’s a great way to connect with authors, editors, agents and publishers. Maybe meet up with an old friend or two. Care to join me?

A side note bonus I just have to share - Yesterday, I got to enjoy another face to face meeting with an on-line friend. Our own Alicia Dean aka my editor extraordinaire Ally Robertson and I had lunch together yesterday. We talked and shared and talked some more. There's nothing better than sharing with a fellow writer.

My days to blog here are the 11^th and 23^rd. For more about me and the stories I write, please visit my 

 WEBSITE

A Retreat From Harsh Reality, Re-visited by Margo Hoornstra

As you read this, I’m fully immersed in all things writing related, and have been since early Friday. Later this afternoon, I’ll arrive home revitalized and inspired fresh off the Retreat From Harsh Reality week-end put on by my own Romance Writers of America® Chapter, Mid-Michigan.

A complete week-end devoted to our craft, or profession if one is so inclined. To talk, listen, learn, try, work, share, brainstorm, implement, test, use, figure, discard, re-group. Even vent if need be.

We all need a Retreat From Harsh Reality now and then. Thirty some years ago, Leila Davis, a fellow member in MMRWA uttered those very words to me. I happened to be President of the chapter at that time, as I am again this year.

A few months later, our chapter had one scheduled. Our first Retreat From Harsh Reality was a bring your own sheets, blankets and towels, pack your own food or call for pizza delivery affair held in one of the vacant for the summer dormitories at a nearby university.

Over the years, the get together evolved to become more formalized. A block of hotel rooms with all the amenities was rented, meals were provided on site. Speakers were brought in to make presentations all day Saturday and half the day Sunday. The time to simply immerse ourselves in all things writing such as working on our own manuscripts, brainstorming plots and events, critiquing ours and others’ works in progress, somehow went by the wayside.

We became so focused on filling the allotted time with activities at the event itself, we lost sight of its original purpose. Finally, a few years ago, we came to realize what had happened and, thankfully, took corrective measures.

We still have a speaker, but on a limited basis here and there for only a few hours total all week end. The rest of the time is devoted to writing. No talking please quiet rooms are available for personal writing time and nothing else. Other areas are set up for get togethers to share.

A complete week-end devoted to our craft, or profession if one is so inclined. To talk, listen, learn, try, work, share, brainstorm, implement, test, use, figure, discard, re-group. Even vent if need be.

So what about you? Any Retreats, Conferences, Get Togethers in your future? Maybe next year you can come to ours.

My days to blog here are the 11^th and 23^rd. For more about me and the stories I write, please visit my website